Next month, Connecticut will remove “information identifying a party protected by a restraining order” from its Web site case lookup. This move is in response to a 2006 federal law prohibiting the disclosure of the identity of victims of domestic violence. In every county, this information will still be available in the county court case files.

Under a 2006 amendment to the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2005, no state, Indian tribe of territory “shall make available publicly on the Internet any information regarding the registration or filing of a protection order, restraining order, or injunction in either the issuing or enforcing State, tribal, or territorial jurisdiction, if such publication would be likely to publicly reveal the identity or location of the party protected under such order.”

I wonder if this mandate will impede efforts to identify restrained parties, such as San Diego County does in its unique database.